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Portrait of Tracy

C

crobinson03

Mar 13, 2011
7
0
Keene, NH
#1
Hey everyone, first post, go easy :)

I've been working on transcribing Jaco's Portrait of Tracy, but I can't figure out how to play that last chord for the life of me. Making those harmonics sound crisp and clear is sometimes an issue too. Any suggestions?
 
#2
IIRC, those are artificial harmonics. You can either bar the three strings in both places with your fretting hand or bar with your fretting hand and then tap with your plucking hand where the harmonics are. Good luck!
 
#6
Hvitekrist said:
IIRC = If I Remember Correctly

About the frets.
When I play that chord I fret the 9th position of the A, D and G string in a barré, and position my pinky above the 13th position to create the harmonic.
Combined with the low E, it results in an Esus4 chord, IIRC ( ;) )
Click to expand...

Right on. OP, bear in mind that these are not easy harmonics to play, much less to get ringing the way Jaco did. Don't hold yourself to that standard right off. It'll come with (lots and lots of) time.
 
#12
Fishbrain said:
If it was anyone other than Jaco I'd be tempted to point the finger towards studio magic!
Click to expand...

On the DCI video lesson (with the great Jerry Jemmott) even Jaco has some problems with grabbing that last one the first time through. He's using a barre with his first finger to fret the three strings, then reaching up with his fourth finger to get the artificial harmonics- it's quite a stretch and getting the right angle for you hand to do both is the challenge.

Focus on hand position- not just on the fingerboard, but also in relation to the rest of the bass so you can get the reach without hurting yourself.

John
 

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